Thursday, July 10, 2014

Isle of Misfit Monsters

Below are three monsters that were rejected form the Treatise of Twisted Terrors due to a lack of available public domain art. The formatting is a bit different online, but not too different from the supplement. All open game content may be used as allowed by the Open Game License. The text descriptions may be used as long as credit is given (preferably with a link here).

Armouchiquois

Frequency: Rare

No.
Encountered: 1-40

Size: Small

Move: 150 ft

Armor
Class: 5

Hit
Dice: 1+1

Attacks: 1

Damage: by weapon

Special
Attacks:Nil

Special
Defenses:Nil

Magic
Resistance:Standard

Lair
Probability:35%

Treasure:See
below

Intelligence: Average

Alignment: Neutral

Level/XP:2/140
+ 1/hp

Source: Native American folklore

“Ugly, suspicious, and downright weird, the hoppers were nonetheless
good friends in our travels through their lands. In exchange for a few trade
items, they acted as guides and guards, quickly leading us through what would
have otherwise been very treacherous wilderness. I’m glad we met them, but I’m
still having nightmares of their bizarre hopping and hooting calls” - -
from The Journals of Eurylochos the
Traveler.

Weird, froglike humanoids,
armouchiquois stand about three feet tall and have disproportionately long
legs. They are surprisingly strong, equal to an ogre, and this, along with
their long legs, allows them to hop great distances. They can hop as high as
ten feet.

They have a sallow skin color and
sunken, nearly skeletal facial feature. All told, they look like small, sickly,
frog-men. Despite their unintelligent appearance, they have surprisingly strong
mental powers, leading many to become magic users, illusionists, bards, and
other spell using classes.

They tend to live in isolated
clans, far from large scale civilizations. Although they seek little contact
with other races, through trading they will have weapons and armor similar to
neighboring peoples, most typically spears and short bows.

Treasure: Individuals: 2d4 gp: Lair:
20d10 sp (50%), 1d6 jewelry (75%

Armouchiquois are likely to be allies, trading
partners, and/or sources of information. They may well be the only demi-humans
in large territory controlled by hostile humanoids (orcs, gnolls, etc). Unknown
even to them, armouchiquois are a sub-species of human and are therefore
subject to any spells that effect typical humans.Roughly 5% of them will have class levels,
typically being low-level magic users, similar intellect based classes, or
rangers.

“The weird, grass-man had attacked a lone scout, apparently
underestimating her combat skill. It did not live long enough to be questioned.”
- from The Journals of Eurylochos the
Traveler.

A bizarre, cannibalistic humanoid
race, the eloko are dwarf sized, but instead of hair, they have grass growing
all over their bodies. Their snouts are elongate with prominent, sharp teeth,
causing them to look a bit like mammalian kobolds with grass for fur. They
reside in deep forests and dress in clothes made out of leaves.

Eloko are most commonly
encountered in hunting patrols of 2d6 eloko (70 % chance). These are very
aggressive as they are already out hunting for human flesh. They will attack
immediately, first using their charm bells, then attacking with ranged weapons,
before closing for melee as a last resort. Occasionally a hungry eloko will go
off on its own and attempt to use its charm bell to acquire human meat (10%
chance). Lone eloko prey upon the weak and will never attack an armed group.
The remainder of encounters (20%) will be with an eloko village. Surprisingly,
these are often the least dangerous encounters as the eloko will frequently
trade their non-human meat and forest fruits for weapons and coins. They are
typically armed with a wide assortment of random weapons acquired by trade or
by theft. At least 25% of eloko will be armed with spears or short bow,

The most potent weapon possessed
by the eloko are their charm bells. These magic items can be used to cast a
potent charm spell two times a day. This functions as the magic user spell
charm person, but with one important difference. Victims charmed by the eloko
bell will do anything the caster asks, typically allowing the eloko to eat the
alive. They have one charm bell per 10 eloko or fraction thereof.

Eloko subsist on forest game and
rare forest fruits, especially berries, but prefer human meat when they can get
it. Eating the flesh of sentient beings is so important to the eloko that they
will frequently deny having eaten anything else.

Eloko are another race that can help
add an element of the exotic to distant regions.In their home region, they may fulfill a role
similar to that of orcs or goblins elsewhere but they act and feel quite
different.

“I’ve always been a bit leery of snakes and when one rose up on a pair
of hind legs and hissed something at me, I reacted without thinking and kicked
the damn thing as hard as I could. Fortunately my boot was heavy enough that it
smashed in its head. When I took the corpse over to Peiraios’ tent to see if he
knew what the creature had been, I could not wake him. He had been bitten by
this creature, or as I fear, another of its kind.“ - from The Journals of Eurylochos the Traveler.

The attercroppe (“little poison
head”) is a small poisonous fairy-snake with humanoid limbs and an insatiable
cat-like curiosity. They are extremely malevolent towards humans, humanoids,
and demi-humans, except for elves and fairy folk of all kinds.

A nocturnal creature, they tend to
sleep through the day in their small boroughs (indistinguishable from normal
snake holes on the surface). They live near rivers and in forests where other
fay beings live.

An unarmed human will almost
certainly be bitten (save vs poison at -1 or die) unless they can distract them
long enough to flee. The best way to distract an attercroppe is to toss an
unusual or shiny object to it, which should give the person a few seconds to
hastily exit the area.

They can speak common in a
hissing voice, but no one has ever heard them say anything except “what’s
that?”

Attercroppe are minor, but dangerous
nuisance encounters for characters travelling through darker fay lands. Of
course, if one of the characters, or better yet players, has a snake phobia,
then they might be a more common monster.Experienced adventurers will often leave out many worthless shiny
baubles to distract these unseelie fairies. Either the attercroppe will run of
with some of the “treasure” or it will be mesmerized by all the fascinating
items.Either way, it’s better than
being bitten in your sleep.

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Designation of Product Identity and Open Game Content:
Open Game Material:
All monster statistics are Open Game Content, including, but not limited to, the stat block from “frequency” through “source.” All other references to game rules are also open game
Product Identity:
All text descriptions of the creatures are Product Identity to the extent permitted under the OGL and to the extent such material is subject to copyright, except for any text language derived from the SRD which is Open Game Content. The phrases “The Journals of Eurylochos the Traveler,” is Product Identity.